China

Red meets Red (5 June 2012)

Today, we visited the Coca-Cola bottling company and was introduced to the sheer scale and size of the Chinese drink market.  Afterward, they showed us the sales figures for their different categories of drinks and noticed that water was a major seller for them.  Lastly, they introduced Jay of their CSR division in china and covered the different CSR projects and accomplishments that the Coca-Cola bottling company has performed.

What struck us the most during the visit was that Coca-Cola had entered China in 1927, but was kicked out in 1949, however they didn’t cover much detail on whether or not their previous experience in China contributed to any competitive strengths or knowledge for the company.

Later in the day, we met with students from Peking University.  During our visit, we participated in a mock negotiation with their student.  After completing, we learned about the different approaches to understanding negotiations.  After class, a few students took us on a quick tour of the Peking university campus. They have a very beautiful campus!

What was the most interesting was that the school had influenced some very famous communist leaders, such as Mao Zedong, to name just one.  Ironically, one of their four spirits is “Democracy” despite this Communist history and current political Chinese landscape.

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